1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a tube connection structure in an endoscope, particularly to a tube connection structure for connecting a forceps tube arranged in an endoscope insertion part with a forceps aperture formed in a tip component of the endoscope insertion part.
2. Description of Related Art
A tip component is provided at the extremity of a curved part of an endoscope insertion part. Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 2-10494 discloses the tip component, in which a charge coupled device (CCD) 2 is arranged and a forceps aperture 3 is formed as shown in FIG. 5. Treatment equipment such as forceps is inserted and extracted through the forceps aperture 3. The forceps aperture 3 is connected to a rubber forceps tube 4 through a metal forceps tube 5, which is inflexible. The metal forceps tube 5 is disposed in close proximity to a CCD board 6 in order to achieve a small diameter of the tip component 1. For this reason, the rubber forceps tube 4 is connected with the metal forceps tube 5 at a position behind the CCD board 6.
The conventional tube connection structure, however, has such a disadvantage that a tip section ring 7 for protecting the CCD board 6 and the forceps tube 5 must be long in order to cover both the CCD board 6 and the inflexible forceps tube 5, which extends up to the position behind the CCD board 6. Therefore, the tip component 1 must be long, and an observation window 8 of the tip component 1 has a narrow observation range due to a limitation on the curve angle of the endoscope curved part.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a tube connection structure in an endoscope that reduces the length of the tip component.
The above object can be accomplished by providing an insertion part of an endoscope, comprising: a tip component provided at an extremity of the insertion part, the tip component including a body member having an aperture part; and a tube member arranged inside the insertion part, an end of the tube member being connected with the aperture part, wherein a connecting part between the aperture part and the end of the tube member is formed in the body member.
According to the present invention, the connecting part between the tube member and the aperture part is formed in the body of the tip component, which was an unused space in the prior art. This reduces the length of the tip component.
The above object can be accomplished by providing an insertion part of an endoscope, comprising: a tip component provided at an extremity of the insertion part, the tip component including a body member having an aperture part; a tube member arranged inside the insertion part, an end of the tube member being connected with the aperture part; and an imaging device board on which an imaging device is mounted, the imaging device board being arranged inside the tip component, wherein a connecting part between the aperture part and the end of the tube member is arranged closer to an extremity of the tip component than the imaging device board.
According to the present invention, the connecting part between the tube member and the aperture part is arranged closer to the extremity of the tip component than the imaging device board disposed inside the tip component part. The curving of the curved part is restricted at a rear end of the imaging device board, not at the connecting part. Therefore, the curved part is curved at a wide angle.